Walking & cycling community ideas
Project guides
Our aim is to make walking and cycling accessible to all, and to encourage Londoners to increase their participation in walking and cycling.
We've selected case studies from the Walking and Cycling Grants London scheme which could be easily implemented in other London boroughs, and turned them into project guides. Each guide details the resources and requirements, likely costs, and hints and tips to enable you to run the project.
Cycling to improve mental health
The 'Cycling to improve mental health' project aims to encourage and engage people with mental health issues to cycle, building cycle confidence and skills.
Family cycling adventure
The 'Family cycling adventure' project enables primary school children and their parents to develop and practice their cycling skills. The programme is targeted at families who do not currently cycle or have never cycled before.
Cycling for homeless people
The 'Cycling for homeless people' project aims to increase levels of physical activity for people who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless. This project offers learn-to-ride, bike maintenance and led-ride sessions at homeless shelters and hostels.
Bike recycling
The 'Bike recycling' project targets small groups of secondary school students, with the aim of teaching bike maintenance skills. The sessions are practical, teaching students to repair broken and unwanted bikes donated from the community.
Volunteering on your bike
'Volunteering on your bike' creates a network of volunteer participants to use cycling as a mode of transport while helping their local communities. The network of volunteers can come from a range of communities, ethnicities, backgrounds, ages and cycling skills. This is a great way to empower participants as they learn to cycle more confidently, while helping others in their local area.
Safe cycle playground
A supervised 'Safe cycle playground' allows children aged three to 10 years old to have fun while learning the rules of the road in a safe environment. A mini version of a road network, including replicas of items such as stop signs, give way signs, roundabouts and speed bumps, lets children build an understanding of how road users and pedestrians interact, and how they can stay safe.
Cycling for hospital staff
'Cycling for hospital staff' encourages and trains hospital workers to cycle to work, and is targeted primarily at women who do low-paid shift work. Many of these workers are not confident riding a bike, either because they haven't ridden in a long time or they never learned. This project can promote the benefits of cycling, such as free and sustainable transport, health and wellbeing.
Cycling for the over 50s
The 'Cycling for the over 50s' project offers beginner cycling courses tailored to men and women over 50. This group is significantly under-represented in cycling, often because of barriers such as fitness, health problems and cost. Not only will this project increase their physical activity, it will also showcase cycling as a cheaper and more convenient alternative to driving. It also includes the added benefits of improving mental wellbeing.
Cycling with a disability
The 'Cycling with a disability' project provides cycling training and maintenance sessions for people with learning and communication disabilities, and their families. The aim of the sessions is to improve participants' physical, mental and social well-being.
Share your own walking and cycling project
If you know of a walking or cycling community project or idea which could be easily replicated, we want to hear from you. Download the 'Community ideas' template and send your completed from to: communityideashub@tfl.gov.uk